Skip to main content

From a Corner of the Spare Room


I’m sure there must be some equation about how the rate of progress on a house renovation reduces the amount of space available to its inhabitants. Clearly, those folks who go off and live in a caravan in their garden know this, but it’s come as something as a surprise to me, but then maths was never my strong subject.
The fitting of new ceilings has turned the ground floor into a building site and our utility room has become a makeshift kitchen, soon to be kitchen/bathroom. It’s a bit like living on the boat again but with running water. Famous last words.

For now, I’ve gathered up my essentials, found a couple of wooden blocks my dad ingeniously made to raise his bed when he was terminally-ill (although a carpenter, he said he drew the line at making his own coffin) to make my keyboard vaguely ergonomically sound and retreated to a corner of the spare room. However, with downstairs lighting due to be fitted at any moment, I have a feeling that the house renovation equation is about to make its presence felt once again.



Comments

Unknown said…
Good luck with the transition!
lx
17 August 2011 at 03:55
Milla said…
A million sympathies. Had ours done last 4 yrs ago. Total renno. (& a puppy!!) it is ghastly. Even tho you chose it! Oh to be rich, rent elsewhere and waft in daily. Do check 'em tho Chris. Just discovered that our f*ckwit cowboys didn't put a vital steel in (in place of removed external wall). Toby's room now has to be totally dismantled, curved steel following line of roof installed ... Oh God!
It WILL be over tho .... And wurrrth it!!
17 August 2011 at 03:59
Pauline Barclay said…
Good luck Chris, and as I've said before, I'm with you on all of this, and as I am constantly being told, it will be worth it in the end...I'm sending these words to you too! x
17 August 2011 at 06:08
Frances said…
Chris, I can tell that you have still got your marvelous wit. This post made me smile even as I imagined how your life is being ... temporarily ... disrupted.

Those beautiful sunsets must offer up regular gifts of calming nature.

xo
17 August 2011 at 06:41
her at home said…
ha tell me about it!!! Builders left 4 months ago due to current state of emotional dis-array in the family they kindly shifted all of my room for me and I have no idea where anything is not even clothes, luckily a french friend gave me her entire wardrobe from last sure so I a fit to be seen otherwise Id still be wearing winter woolies!!
17 August 2011 at 10:54
Maggie Christie said…
How lovely to have those wooden blocks. What a useful legacy; your Dad is still looking after you.

It will be so wonderful when it's all finished - I can't wait to finish this place too!
17 August 2011 at 14:38
Pondside said…
When it's all over and done you are welcome to join me in my Reno Song.
It goes like this;
"Never again....."
17 August 2011 at 22:22
Flowerpot said…
I do sympathise Chris - just hope it's not too long before order is restored!
18 August 2011 at 01:28
Fennie said…
I'm sure the creative spirit will shine through. Our utility room had to be emptied last week when we replaced the CH boiler. And then we repainted. Quite amazed at the sheer volume of 'stuff' we had accumulated there. That's the upside - you throw a lot of stuff out.
18 August 2011 at 02:30
Deborah Carr (Debs) said…
Sound exhausting and no doubt messy too. Good luck with it all.
18 August 2011 at 10:23
Reading Tea Leaves said…
Good luck with the renovations Chris!

Jeanne
x
23 August 2011 at 03:57
Chris Stovell said…
Thanks, Liz!

Wah! Milla, that sounds grim!

Thanks, Pauline - same to you!

Frances, thank you - we hear it hasn't been very calm in NY. Hope all's well with you.

HaH. Jeez! You're having a bad time of it. Good to hear that some people are looking after you.

Mags, I know - they just seem to suggest themselves to me when I was looking round. Yes, it will be good when it's finished... is that light at the end of the tunnel or the train coming towards me?

Pondside, sing it again!

FP, thank you!

Fennie, sounds as if you've been decluttering in more ways than one.

Debs, I'll stop banging on about it soon!

Thanks Jeanne, we need it!
24 August 2011 at 04:16
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Winter's Tale

Thursday 2 December Feeling confined in her snow-muffled flat, Ma takes a walk up her front path to take the morning air. As she returns a cat jumps over the wall and startles her. She slips on the icy path and lands heavily on her shoulder. When her injury doesn’t spontaneously heal, she eventually gives in and calls her local GP surgery. In the evening a GP visits and summons an ambulance ‘sooner rather than later’. Around 10.30 pm Ma is admitted to her local hospital. X-rays suggest she has a fractured scapula which will require emergency surgery. She is put on a nil by mouth regime that night and transferred to a larger hospital for an emergency operation. However, she’s picked a busy period for her accident so the operation doesn’t take place. Saturday 4 December The operation is rescheduled for this morning, so Ma’s had a second night of nil by mouth. A CT scan shows that Ma’s humerus is broken in four places. Despite her obviously smashed-up arm, which is in a sling and...
45 comments
Read more

Forever Young

Looking at the blurb for my new Lacura WrinkleStop from Aldi, I see that its active ingredient has been ‘proven to help • Reduce forehead wrinkles by 52% • Reduce crow’s feet by 24% • Restrict 82% of wrinkle muscle activity’ That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? Frankly, after years when my face looked like a lunar landscape thanks to the joys of acne, these days I’m just grateful to see a fairly blemish-free skin. Part of me wants to believe that the wonder cream’s making everything looking a bit smoother and tidier, but, hey, there’s also a lot of ‘aqua’ and ‘glycerin’ in the stuff, too. Besides, I could tamper with my skin as much as I like (and I don’t), but I’ve only got to stand next to my beautiful daughters to see the difference. Ma has wonderful skin, so the chances are there are some helpful genes in the mix, but my dad died far too young of cancer, so it’s not all good news. My dad was a carpenter. ‘You can’t get age from a tin, Miss Chris,’ he’d say when rubbing his hands o...
26 comments
Read more

Proceed With Care

The Blogosphere is heaving with writers many of whom are aching to be novelists. A few days ago, over at Purple Coo, I was asked a couple of questions about making submissions. This may possibly have raised a few eyebrows as I’m not exactly bursting with novels but I have plenty of writing experience and a few cautionary tales which may help anyone about to embark on this path. 1. It helps if you can write. I’ve spent most of my working life as a professional writer. That hasn’t always been my job title, of course, which has been Research Officer or Local Government Officer (of various descriptions) but writing has always been essential to the job description. I’ve written research papers, policy notes, briefing papers and press releases and if you want someone to turn your hesitant speech or venomous rows into concise elegant prose, well, it ain’t me, babe, because I don’t do that anymore. In addition I’ve been placed in national essay and poetry competitions, I’ve been published in m...
31 comments
Read more